Foma_ATK

She is in Nikolaev - there was still a small window to get out by crossing the Bug by boat.
Her mother stays. She stays.
She know Ukraine will eventually win.
The price will be so high.

I understand how you feel. My wife is in Kherson.
 
Every year she goes for several months at a time to care for her elderly parents. This year was no different, and she was planning to return in April. Since the invasion, we've only had contact by email, and haven't heard from her since Friday morning. Her last message warned me about phone service and Internet being shut down, so at least I know why I haven't heard from her, but my fear for her safety can still be overwhelming.
 
Prayers for your wife and mother-in-law.  Prayers for Ukraine.

I've been waiting for clarification as well and this is the closest thing I've found, it's not the US government but it is a large legal firm making their own analysis.
 
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=077fa499-7d93-4a6e-a139-3b2f6eb60301
 
10/19/2021
 

Thanks for the response. I will also continue checking the news, as I believe there is a new conference about it tomorrow. But, logically speaking I’m not sure how they could prevent a legal resident from entering the country because of a vaccine. But, who knows with all this insanity.   

Well, because some people do not want to take the vaccine for specific reasons and it is frustrating that it is now a requirement. 

Make sure to verify what your LOCAL CONSULATE requires for the visa. There is contradicting information EVERYWHERE. For example, our embassy does not REQUIRE any vaccines to issue a k1 visa. It states this both on the embassy page and the medical website. You can DM me and I can show you. There is also an option where the doctor will fill in, "Person will be applying for exemption." Don't feel forced to do something that you do not want to do. That is so un-American. You DO HAVE CHOICES. Now, will we have to vaccinate for AOS, technically yes BUT at this stage you can apply for an exemption, religious/moral exemption. This costs an extra $930. IF USCIS accepts the exemption, based on some damn good proof/evidence that you are doing this for religious/moral convictions, then you do NOT have to get it.. Research. You HAVE CHOICES. Don't let anyone bully you into doing something you're against.

I believe it's important when declaring "borders are closed" that we mention that there are still flights for citizens returning to that country and people are not barred from leaving the country.  This is an important distinction. I also believe direct government sources are important instead of news media.  Regarding entry to the US from Russia, from https://ru.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
 
That is if a restriction to the U.S. from Russia is put in place, which has not yet happened: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/17/fact-sheet-dhs-notice-arrival-restrictions-china-iran-and-certain-countries-europe
 
Also from the US Embassy, regarding travelers from the US to Russia:
 
Of course, this changes daily, but the US Embassy in Russia has been good about providing daily updates and links to Russian government websites with up-to-date travel information.

Just checking to know how everyone is holding up! Stay positive! We will all get through this!!

We did not receive an e-mail like others did with interviews scheduled at other embassies, but this is written on the US Travel Docs website and we are assuming our April 3rd interview in Moscow is cancelled.
 
https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ru/index.html?firstTime=No

I believe it's important when declaring "borders are closed" that we mention that there are still flights for citizens returning to that country and people are not barred from leaving the country.  This is an important distinction. I also believe direct government sources are important instead of news media.  Regarding entry to the US from Russia, from https://ru.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
 
That is if a restriction to the U.S. from Russia is put in place, which has not yet happened: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/17/fact-sheet-dhs-notice-arrival-restrictions-china-iran-and-certain-countries-europe
 
Also from the US Embassy, regarding travelers from the US to Russia:
 
Of course, this changes daily, but the US Embassy in Russia has been good about providing daily updates and links to Russian government websites with up-to-date travel information.

We did not receive an e-mail like others did with interviews scheduled at other embassies, but this is written on the US Travel Docs website and we are assuming our April 3rd interview in Moscow is cancelled.
 
https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ru/index.html?firstTime=No

Bill Gates, who through his Foundation has been studying epidemics, had this to say just hours ago today during a Reddit interview: https://old.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fksnbf/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/
 

In my opinion (which has been ridiculed), some industries would be almost totally wiped out beyond 60 days. Airlines etc operate on heavy loans which any stop of operations causes defaults.
 
More importantly what is the point of the ban after the next month or so? I mean my simple chemistry taught me that when you have two connected bowls of solution both with the same concentration of some contaminant, there is no significant migration of contaminant from one bowl to the other.
 
Very soon testing will show that USA and Europe are almost equally contaminated by their own citizens. Thus at that point what significant negative effect would incoming foreigners cause? 
 
The ban only only makes sense when one country is significantly more contaminated than the other. Right now aside from Spain and Italy I don’t think the rest of Europe is more contaminated than USA. 
 
Now if you weigh the enormous economic toll of the ban, it doesn’t make sense to maintain the ban and suffer ruin when those you’ve banned are no more contaminated than your own citizens.
 
If i were a betting man I would say this ban does not extend more than 45 days and absolute maximum 60 days unless something catastrophic or miraculous happens on either side such that the degree of contamination becomes radically different between USA and Europe.
 
A mutual ban right now between USA and China makes sense because China is on the mend and soon will have very low concentrations such that it wouldn’t make sense to let Americans come in. Hopefully as USA ups it’s game, in the next two months maximum we are all at a good place so that exchanging citizens wouldn’t change anything.
 
Duration: Maximum 60 days ✅✅✅
 
PS: South Korea has maintained open boarders throughout their crises and now rapid recovery.

I am in the very small minority who don’t believe with five months validity left on your visa you should be dropping everything in your life to make a beeline for the USA. Speaking for myself, not telling you how to live your life.
 
I think those who believe the USA will/can keep the travel ban indefinitely are delusional. 😂😝😂. The corporation$ who control America simply won’t allow it. China and South Korea have gotten their pandemic under control and South Korea has kept travel open throughout.
 
Yeah yeah yeah I know the USA is not China nor South Korea however I have total confidence the USA will tame the plague within four months now that testing is ramping up. I mean if South Korea with intense testing tamed this thing in just two months, why won’t the USA be able to reach steady state in four months?
 
That said make the choice you are most comfortable with. Come as soon as you reasonably can. This is what I would do. We all have different risk tolerance.

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting-secretary-chad-f-wolf-s-statement-presidential-proclamation
 
"...suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. These countries, known as the Schengen Area, include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation."

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting-secretary-chad-f-wolf-s-statement-presidential-proclamation
 
"...suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. These countries, known as the Schengen Area, include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation."

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting-secretary-chad-f-wolf-s-statement-presidential-proclamation
 
"...suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. These countries, known as the Schengen Area, include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation."

Happy Thanksgiving! I-130 was approved today! PD June 17 @ SRC.  No expedite or I-129 filed. Good luck to everyone! 

If you think this is bad, try studying Russian and then actually trying to speak it! Word endings change literally for every single noun depending on context, and you can cycle through up to 6 different endings, plus variations of that if it's masculine, feminine or neutral gender. So let's see, here's just an example of the grammatical insanity :
 

 
And, yes, this also applies to first and last names! So there can be up to 6 different variations for someone's name...

Just a quick technical explanation: Often Windows or Mac will "correct" the orientation of an image for you, giving you the impression that you've saved the file in the right orientation when in fact it's not. Very annoying "feature".
 
This is one reason the PDF format exists: to leave no room for error in the presentation of a document, especially official documents. What gets more official than immigration?!
 
If you are anything less than a PC expert, don't take any chances! Do spend some time learning about properly making PDF files, even if it means hiring an IT geek to give you some tips.

I'm writing to report SUCCESS in receiving a passport with the correct transliteration of my name (English) on my wife's new passport (Russian).
 
After our marriage she changed her name and updated all her documents successfully, but we'd read the many stories about international passports with a different transliteration being issued by the Russian УМВД.  For example, Cruise -> Круз, then being written as Kruz on the international passport.
 
When it came time to file for her new passport we tried presenting a notarized translation of my US passport, however this didn't pass for proof.  They demanded that our marriage certificate show the desired spelling, but since we were married in Russia this of course didn't include our surname in English, only in Russian.
 
What did work was a notarized translation of our marriage certificate.  We used a local translation and notary service and after our 30-day wait received her new document with her name spelled correctly!  This all took place not in Moscow, but a small town quite far away, so if it can succeed here I believe there's a good chance it will succeed at your local УМВД. 
 
Удачи Вам!

Chances are that your PC is worth far less than it costs to ship it.  What's important is the information on your PC, and that can be taken home much easier. 
 
I recommend either using an online cloud backup service to make a copy of all your data you can download to a new PC at home, or removing the hard drive from inside your computer which has all your information.  You can take that hard drive to a PC-savvy friend or shop and have the information put on your new computer.  That hard drive will be the same size and weight as a small hard cover book, so much easier to transport!

Chances are that your PC is worth far less than it costs to ship it.  What's important is the information on your PC, and that can be taken home much easier. 
 
I recommend either using an online cloud backup service to make a copy of all your data you can download to a new PC at home, or removing the hard drive from inside your computer which has all your information.  You can take that hard drive to a PC-savvy friend or shop and have the information put on your new computer.  That hard drive will be the same size and weight as a small hard cover book, so much easier to transport!

Not sure if it is a bug or not but -
 
I had to create an account 3 times before I got a verification e-mail. 
 
1st Attempt - Signed up, waited a week but no e-mail, asked to resend confirmation, waited a few more days, contacted Visajourney directly, no response after a week.
 
2nd Attempt - Signed up with a new e-mail, waited hours, no verification e-mail.  Checked junk, resent, etc.
 
3rd Attempt (final) - Enabled a VPN connection to home in the U.S.  Was creating my account from here in Russia, thought this could be the problem?  Received verification e-mail right away.
 
So, happy to finally be here!   But why does it seem that my sign-up from Russia is blocked?